12:01 PM: Since the flake-free night gave way to a flake-free morning in West Seattle, we’re checking around to see what the weather folks are predicting for this afternoon. The popular weather analyst Cliff Mass published a “nowcast” this past hour on his website, acknowledging areas like ours have been in a shadow while other areas (like Snohomish County) have been walloped, but saying that pattern is now breaking down. However, he says in capital letters, “THIS WILL NOT BE LIKE NOV. 22ND.” As for the National Weather Service, its midmorning “forecast discussion” also acknowledges the “shadowing” but predicts for later today, “SHOWERS WILL INCREASE … AND AN INCH OR TWO OF SLUSHY SNOW WILL OCCUR MOST AREAS AWAY FROM WATER AND ABOVE 100-200 FT IN ELEVATION.” The broadcast translations of most of this are discussing mid-afternoon or later. The NWS warns that the “models” remain inconsistent, but tonight looks even potentially snowier. So don’t assume nothing’s happening because nothing’s happened yet – might, or might not. (Yes, we know, we’ve seen this all before.)
ADDED 12:06 PM: Just after we published our update, Metro sent theirs. No route changes yet, but they’re chaining up and warning they expect to move to snow routing later – info after the jump (and we’re watching for other transportation/transit agencies’ plans too; will add to this story as they come in):
King County Metro Transit is chaining up its buses and expects to be moving to snow routing during this evening’s commute. Bus riders should plan for rapidly changing travel conditions later today and into tomorrow.
Metro buses will move to snow routing as travel conditions change. When buses move
to snow routes, it will be announced through Transit Alerts and on the Metro Online
website at www.kingcounty.gov/metro/snow. Check the status for your route before you travel.Metro is using an online color-coded map to keep riders informed of the status of
its bus service. All bus routes are assigned into one or more of seven geographic
areas within King County. When there is snow or ice on the roads, the service status
of each area will be color coded and displayed on the online map. Green indicates
buses are operating on normal routes; yellow that some – but not all – routes in the
area are on snow routes (primarily in higher elevation areas); and red tells you
that all bus routes in the entire geographic area are on snow routing .People without online access can call the Customer Information Office at (206)
553-3000. General information about service will also be sent out via the kcmetrobus
Twitter account.Expect buses to be crowded and significantly delayed when on snow routes and travel is difficult. Also, many people may leave work early today, so take that into consideration in deciding when to travel. Metro encourages people to limit travel if possible if roads become snowy and icy.
Metro fact
Metro managers are often asked why they don’t take all of the 60-foot articulated buses off the road when it snows. They cannot park all the articulated buses because those buses make up about 50 percent of Metro’s entire fleet and provide more than 50 percent of the seated capacity on Metro buses. Demand for bus service is even higher in the afternoon than in the morning.
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